his imagination. Man so prepared, so developed and
train.d. is a prophet, although he siill may receive no special messages from on hiy;li. either because his age requires none, or outer influences, climatical 01 social. disturb the mind. But the man so prepared, and he only, can be a prophet of the Lord. So the ancient prophets were prepared for their messages and their missions. Others, .also, may conceive original ideas and prophecies; but if the reason predominates over the imagination, they cannot realize or reproduce their own internal visions. If the imagination predominates, I hi j produce phantasmagorias— wild, disconnected, and con- [fthe moral character supports not both.
deception, imposition, and even self-delusion spring from realm's light and imagination's vision. If one profess to be a prophet of the Lord, says Maimoni- des. we would first lie obliged lo in\ estigate « hethi r his
education, his learning, his character, and his antece- dents warrant such a presumption. If this be not the case if he be a vulgar, uncultivated, or an impious man, but maintains that God or an angel spoke to him this or thai, we should !"• hound to declare him a deluded
fantasl or a wilful impostor. The genuine prophets,
Maimonides further maintains, are not all of the same
I 'hi ly are as different as are their natural
and the development thereof. Wiih the one reason and with the other imagination may predomi- nate, and another, again, may be influenced by moral deficiencies. Therefore, while one prophet, like Moses. is always readj and prepared to receive prophecies in a Bound, waking, and dear state of mind, and in words
prosaic and perfectly definite and accurate. others can receive visions in a Btate of dream, in eccen- tric agitation, or hallucination only. Then they see phantasms which are expounded to them or which they
themselves must expound; or they see an angel or a person in themselves, of course — who speaks to them; or they hear a voice without Beeing any vision, in which they suppose they have heard < !od speak. Therefore the prophetical style varies so much with the various writ- ers ol Scriptures, and the oracles ol some are announced in different poetical forms. The prophet knows how to distinguish divine visions from vulgar ones by the pro- found impression which the former make upon him, ear- rj ing conviction into his mind, and we must know it by the test of reason to which the matter revealed i- sub- jected. All visions recorded in the Bible, .Maimon- ides advances, were subjective, psychological processes. Wherever it is said God appeared, an angel appeared, this or that vision was seen, it must always be under- stood io have appeared bo in the prophet's imagination. Only one prophet received hi- revelations through and to reason directly, without poetical garbs or visionary assistance, and thai was Moses. < >nly one divine man-
ifestati if this nature did actually come to pa— . and
that was the revelation on Mount Sinai, and this, also, Maimonides rationalizes in his own way. In all these
rational expositions of prophecy. Mail ddes refers to
l he Bible and the Talmud for support" i comp. hi- YeSO- dm Haflorah, which forms the Introd. to his Ywl-lln- chazakah |. See M uaoxroi -.
Another sage, whose authority the ultra-orthodox prefer to depend upon. U Joseph Albo i q; V. I. He has expressed his opinion on the various grades of prophets in his I look mi Prim ipks\ Sepker Ikkai im. eh. x. j' :; >. It differs materially from that of Maimonides. Albo has four grades of prophets; the first class consists of proph- ets with whom the understanding has no dominion over the phantasy. They receive the prophetical vision in a stale of slumber and dream, after an attack of pain and terror. The second class consists of prophets in whom I he understanding and the phantasy are well balanced; they receive the prophetical visious without pain or terror, in quiet dreams. The third class consists of prophets with whom the understanding predominates over the phantasy; they see no imaginary visions, as the above Iwo classes .lo. which must be expounded; they see real objects in (heir visions, and hear them speak intelligible words: there is neither pain nor ter- ror, nor doubtful visions in the prophetical ecstasy of this class. The fourth class consists of prophets with whom phantasy has no influence whatever upon the understanding; they see no visions, no symbols what- ever, but hear prophetical words addressed to them, not in a dream or vision— not merely sometimes and in a State of ecstasy but waking, intelligent, and whenever they wish. Albo adds, •• If a man has elevated himself to this high state of mind, he should no longer be called ! man — he should be called angel. None ol us mortals has ever reached this perfection, except our teacher .Moses." See Dr. Wise, Lectures on the Philosophy and Philosophers of tin Jews as reported in the Israelite (Cincinnati, 1873); Rothschild | MissV Hist. and I it. of tin Israelites, vol.ii; Geiger, Judaism, vol. i; M'Caul, Old Paths. (J.H.W.)
Prophesyings. Religious exercises of the Puri- tan clergy in the reign ol queen Elizabeth, instituted for the purpose of promoting knowledge and piety. The ministers ofa particular division, at a Bet time, met
together in some church ofa market or other large town, and there each in bis order explained, according to his ability, some portion of Scripture previously allotted to him. This done, a moderator made his observa- tions mi what bad been said, and determined the true Bense of the place, a certain space of time being fixed for despatching the whole. These institutions, bor- rowed evidently from the Conreniidm Cq-^O nfScot- land.like all others, however, it seems, were in England soon marked by irregularity, disputations, and divisions. Archbishop Grinds! endeavored to regulate the proph- esyings and cover then from the objections which the curl made against them, by enjoining the ministers to